Adventures in Skateboarding From the Board to the Brain

I count myself as a little too old now, but back in the day I used to be able to shred on a skateboard. My friends and I would head out into the streets with our boards and our backpacks and usually a stereo, and that’s how we’d hit the town. I learned about a lot more than just skateboarding when we went out there. There are at least a few crazy stories I could tell you, some more exciting than others.

We’ll keep it vague for the sake of anonymity, but a friend and I were skating in the local elementary school parking lot one evening, just around dusk. We were only around 13 ourselves, not long out of that very same school. We were just skating, minding our own business. We were young and weren’t up to any trouble; not by that point, at least. All of a sudden, a rusted out old mini-van missing a headlight screeches up to us, driver side window rolled down.

It was a group of kids a few years older than us. They outnumbered us, but we didn’t think they were there to beat us up. We were right, but things still didn’t go great. I saw the backseat door open and another boy was there with a water balloon. My friend ran behind the van to get out of the way, while at the same time the driver was getting ready to back up and speed away.

As you might expect, my friend was hit, and the young kids drove away. Unluckily for them, a teacher leaving the school saw the entire thing and got the license plate number. Long story short, my friend’s family hired an injury attorney and sued the older boy’s family. He won a hefty amount of money thanks to that injury attorney.

One of the things I’ve learned most in my years as a skateboarder was that you could always use a good accident attorney, should things go south. I saw it multiple times. That was only the first time one of my friends would be forced to hire an injury attorney. In the years following, I saw another friend hit by a car skateboarding, and saw one get their foot run over by a disgruntled driver.

Thankfully my days of skating are long behind me. How about you? Have any interesting stories about your youth? Share them with readers in the comments below!